In both matches that took place on Tuesday during OGN Overwatch APEX Season 2 in Seoul, South Korea, four powerful storylines came to their potential tipping points. Two teams played for pride, and two played to prove themselves with an APEX win.
South Korean teams Lunatic-Hai and RunAway fought first, and many expected Lunatic-Hai to knock RunAway into the loser's bracket. Lunatic-Hai struck first with a win on Oasis as Kim "Zunba" Joon Hyuk reminded everyone why he was once considered the best Zarya player in Korean Overwatch. His Graviton Surge ultimate closed out multiple games for his team, and Zunba also kept a high ultimate economy throughout the match, meaning more Graviton Surges.
But underdog RunAway would prove once and for all on the next map, Eichenwald, that its wins against other top teams were not flukes. Lunatic-Hai almost full-held RunAway, but with 6 seconds on the clock, RunAway took the first point and pushed the payload almost all the way to the end of the map. Stopped dead in their tracks at 2.3 meters before the last point, RunAway had to stop Lunatic-Hai from getting anywhere near the end. Luckily for the defenders, Kim "Haksal" Kyo Jong reminded everyone how sharp his Genji's blades were by assassinating priority targets on Lunatic-Hai like Kim "EscA" In-jae and Ryu "ryujehong" Je-hong. Their deaths weakened the defense of Lunatic-Hai just enough for the rest of RunAway to easily wipe its opponents out and keep them off the payload, which won Eichenwald and tied the series up 1-1.
In Game 3 on Temple of Anubis, Lunatic-Hai's Gong "Miro" Jin-hyuk took his turn reminding everyone what elite tank play looks like. The best Winston player in the world defended with and without Primal Rage; RunAway was unable to take a point and lost that map. Route66 was a game of inches, but RunAway surprised again, and Lunatic-Hai had one minute to push the payload in the timebank round compared to almost three minutes for its opponent.
The shockers didn't stop there. RunAway, in a decisive fifth round on Dorado, full-held Lunatic-Hai and earned a slot in the semifinals.
Lunatic-Hai would have to fight the winner of Team EnVyUs and KongDoo Uncia. Both teams were one loss away from leaving the tournament; EnVyUs was looking to protect its championship title, and KongDoo Uncia wanted to make it farther in the tournament than they did last time in APEX.
This match would be just as close as the one before, as KDU and EnVyUs inched a victory off of each other on back-to-back maps. KDU won Ilios 2-1, and then EnVyUs executed a great Symmetra and Torbjörn combination by Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka and Pongphop "Mickie" Rattanasangchod on Hollywood, full holding KDU to tie the series at 1-1.
The rest of the series was riddled with odd calls, like Jonathan "HarryHook" Tejedor Rua playing Zarya -- or any heroes other than Soldier 76. It would be unfair to say that he was a one-trick-player, but before HarryHook roleswapped into DPS, he had only played Lucio, and the team didn't have practice time in between MLG Vegas of 2016 and the start of APEX Season 2.
Still, EnVyUs played well as a whole. KDU, however, did the same. The series went to Game 5 after a KDU win on Temple of Amubis and EnVyUs victory on Dorado. In the series-finishing King's Row match, KDU rolled through the map, but EnVyUs struggled to close in on the second point despite Timo "Taimou" Kettunen's excellent Widowmaker play. The reigning champs went down, and with the exit of EnVyUs, only South Korean teams remain in contention.
Lunatic-Hai and KongDoo Uncia will play a final best-of-five on Friday to decide the second team to reach the semifinals.